Flash fiction
Lost in Translation
Jahmar speaks English. He's been speaking it his entire life. So why does everybody in Brooklyn act like he's speaking another language?
On his first day at Erasmus Hall High School, the young Yardie encounters intimidating security checkpoints, confused classmates, and a cafeteria that commits the ultimate crime against Jamaican cuisine. But when his history teacher needs a translator just to understand his answer, Jahmar realizes that surviving American high school will require more than good grades and Jamaican confidence.
About this story
Jahmar speaks English. He's been speaking it his entire life. So why does everybody in Brooklyn act like he's speaking another language?
On his first day at Erasmus Hall High School, the young Yardie encounters intimidating security checkpoints, confused classmates, and a cafeteria that commits the ultimate crime against Jamaican cuisine. But when his history teacher needs a translator just to understand his answer, Jahmar realizes that surviving American high school will require more than good grades and Jamaican confidence.
About the Series
Misadventures of a Yardie
A four-part coming-of-age comedy series
From the hills of Jamaica to the streets of Brooklyn, one teenage Yardie discovers that the American Dream comes with plenty of surprises—and more than a few humiliations.
Sixteen-year-old Jahmar has spent years imagining life in America. In his dreams, foreign means opportunity, sunshine, beautiful girls, and a chance to reinvent himself. But when he leaves his rural Jamaican community for Brooklyn, he discovers that reality has a wicked sense of humor.
Between navigating New York's chaotic streets, surviving his first snowstorm, struggling to make himself understood in a country that supposedly speaks English, and attempting to impress an American girl with his dancehall skills, Jahmar finds himself caught in one ridiculous misadventure after another.
Told through Jahmar's witty, distinctly Jamaican perspective, The Misadventures of a Yardie blends Caribbean humor, culture shock, family relationships, teenage awkwardness, and the bittersweet experience of starting over in a foreign country.
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